Answering the following questions will help you to prepare for the Wetlands exam on marshes and wet meadows, and their wildlife.  These are not the only questions that might be asked on an exam, but they are particularly important. 

A. SALT MARSHES
1.  What is a salt marsh?  How is it distinguished from a freshwater marsh, or from a mangrove swamp?
2.  Where are salt marshes found?  What are their requirements for formation?
3.  Why are salt marshes very rare in the tropics and subtropics?
4.  Why are salt marshes more common on the Atlantic than on the Pacific coast of the US?
5.  What are the names given to the vegetated and unvegetated parts of the salt marsh?  Why do the unvegetated places exist?  How permanent are they?
6.  Why are there tidal creeks on salt marshes?  What do they drain?
7.  Why is vegetation taller on the levees of the tidal creeks?
8.  What are the major vegetative zones of the New England marsh?  What are the dominant species (one or two) in each zone?
9.  Where are the algae of salt marshes found?  How important are they to primary productivity?  Who eats them?
10.  How does the vegetation in the southeastern US, Pacific coast and Alaskan (Arctic) salt marshes differ from that in the New England salt marsh?
11.  What factor(s) determine how far out into the sea salt marshes go? (Know the answer for the New England marsh.)
12.  Why are salt marshes so productive?
13.  What is the relative importance of grazing versus detrital food chains on the salt marsh?  Why is this the case?
14.  Why is sulfur cycling so important in these systems?
15.  How do salt marshes increase productivity in offshore waters?
16.  What values do humans assign to salt marshes?
17.  What are the principal threats to salt marshes?  Are salt marshes likely to survive global warming?

B. FRESHWATER TIDAL MARSHES
1.  How do these marshes differ from the salt marshes that they often lie behind?  How do they differ from inland freshwater marshes?
2.  What physical conditions are required for a freshwater tidal marsh to form?  In what part of the coastal landscape do you expect to find them?
3.  In what states are they most common?  Why are they scare along the Pacific coast, and along the Gulf Coast?
4.  FWTMs are believed to be the most productive ecosystem type on the Earth’s surface.  Why are they more productive than salt marshes?  Than terrestrial ecosystems?
5.  What factors influence plant community composition and zonation?
6.  How is the invertebrate community of freshwater marshes (these and inland marshes) different from that of saltwater wetlands?
7.  Fish species diversity is very high in FWTMs.  Why?
8.  Migrating birds, including waterfowl, move into FWTMs before exploiting salt marshes.  Why?
9.  What are important threats to FWTM health and survival?

C. INLAND FRESHWATER MARSHES AND WET MEADOWS
1.  What is the difference between a marsh and a wet meadow?
2.  Under what general conditions are marshes formed? (Where are they likely to be found?)
3.  What geological processes created the marshlands that we call the prairie potholes, the Nebraska Sandhills, the playa wetlands (in Texas and New Mexico)?
4.  What kind of plants are found in freshwater marshes? (Know a few example species.)
5.  Why is the vegetation in a marsh bordering a water body often arranged in zones (the zones being different assemblages of species)?
6.  What succession of plant types occurs after a drought (e.g., in a prairie pothole)?
7.  What are some animals that you would expect to encounter in a freshwater marsh?
8.  Marshes are rarely acidic.  Why not?
9.  Midwesterners are concerned that global warming will eliminate the prairie potholes?  By what mechanism will this happen (if it does)?
10.  What is a vernal pool and why are they highly vulnerable to “conversion”?
11.  Why are the Everglades called the “river of grass”? Why is sawgrass so dominant?  Know some of the issues raging in this region.
12.  How might global warming change the prairie pot hole region?
13.  How are the marshes of the Mississippi Delata in Louisiana particularly threatened ?

D.  Fish
1.  Why do most fish in freshwater prefer to spawn in shallow water?  Why not spawn in the middle of a lake, having eggs that float at the surface, or sink to the bottom in deep water?
2.  Why are marshes good fish nurseries?
3.  Why don't fish spawn in salt marshes?
4.  How do adult fish use wetlands?  How do those on salt marshes cope with tides?
5.  Why is it important to fish populations in Lake Champlain (and other lakes) that spring flooding be allowed to occur?
6.  What special adaptations does the killifish (one type is the mummichog) have for swimming up into the far reaches of a salt marsh, and surviving occasional stranding?
7.  What type of marsh has the densest and most diverse fisheries?  Why?
8.  How important are wetlands to commercial fisheries and maintenance of a sports fishery?
9.  What does a fish osmoregulate?  In particular, how does it prevent dessicating in seawater and swelling up to balloon size and bursting in freshwater? 

E. Amphibians
1. Frogs, toads and salamanders are all amphibians.  How do you tell them apart?
2.  Why are amphibians "wetland dependent"? (Consider all life stages-egg, larva and adult- in answering this question.)
3.  Why do salt marshes lack amphibians?
3.  How do frogs, toads and salamanders differ in their mating, egg laying and feeding habits?
4.  How do amphibian larvae (tadpoles) differ from adult forms?  Why have different life stages and metamorphosis?
5.  Why do frogs and toads prefer to lay their eggs in small rather than large water bodies?  Why do they "home" to the place where they were hatched to reproduce?
6.  How are amphibian eggs kept out of anoxic sediments?
7.  How do amphibians breathe?  How is this related to their need to periodically rehydrate?
8.  How do amphibians cope with drought, and with winter?
9.  Amphibian populations are declining worldwide.  Any ideas why?
 

F. Reptiles
1.  What features of reptile anatomy and reproduction allow these animals to be less dependent on wetlands than amphibians? (There are several parts to your answer.)
2.  Which types of reptiles live in wetlands and why are they there?  What do they feed on?
3.  Why do reptiles shed their skin (molt)?
3.  What is the life style of the alligator like?  How does it reproduce?  How is it adapted to wetland conditions?
4.  What is a gator hole, and how are they useful to animals other than alligators?
5.  How does a crocodile differ from an alligator in appearance?  Both are found in marshes in the Eastern Hemiphere, but one dominates in freshwater in North America.  Which? 
6.  How do turtles and snakes use wetlands?  What do they eat?  How do snake locate prey, and how do they manage to swallow it whole?
7.  Are their predators on snakes?  Turtles? Crocodilians?

G.  Birds
1.  How have birds adapted to flight?
2.  What kind of eggs do birds have?  Are they any different from reptilian eggs?
3.  Why do birds sit on their eggs?
4.  What other limitations are there to homeothermy?
5.  What sorts of birds besides the waterfowl use marshes?  Why are they there?
6.  How do wading birds keep themselves relatively dry while foraging?  How do the fish eaters capture fish?
7.  Why do cormorants and anhinga spend time with their wings spread out every day?
8.  Wetland perching birds have a special adaptation for perching on cattails and sedges.  What?
9.  What are the waterfowl?  What characteristics distinguish them from other birds?
10.  Why are grebes not considered waterfowl?  In what ways are these birds highly adapted to an aquatic environment nevertheless?
11.  How do the different subfamilies of Anatidae differ in appearance and feeding habits?
12. What adaptations do waterfowl have to an aquatic environment? Consider how they stay warm and avoid getting wet, how they stay afloat while resting at the surface, how they make themselves into good paddlers or divers, and how they rid themselves of excess salt while in salt marshes and brackish inland marshes.
13.  Why do waterfowl prefer a "hemimarsh"?
14.  Why are waterfowl highly vulnerable to predators?  What characteristics of wetlands reduce predation on waterfowl?
15.  Why do waterfowl migrate?
16.  What is it about the Prairie Potholes that waterfowl consider them outstanding nesting habitat?
17.  What impact does hunting have on waterfowl populations?  How about disease?
18.  Predation pressure is higher in inland marshes than it once was.  Why?